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In an electoral season of appalling gutter politics, the Obama campaign is about to test a new bottom. Contrary to tradition — which dictates that Democrats and Republicans respectfully lie low during their rivals’ presidential nominating conventions — Vice President Joe Biden will land in Tampa, Fla., during the Republican convention to try to upstage Mitt Romney’s coronation.

“Are you going to Florida?” Biden joked to reporters during a campaign stop in Minneapolis the other day. “I’m going to be the speaker at the convention.”

Such trash talk is typical of the increasingly deracinated veep, whose motor mouth now seems beyond the control of even campaign consigliere David Axelrod’s well-oiled media machine.

A “heckler’s veto” is an attempt to shout down political speech by preventing its expression; rather than fighting it with more speech, the heckler seeks to silence his foe, marginalize him as outside the mainstream, beyond the pale of civilized discourse and unworthy of a fair hearing.

Since the day Paul Ryan was announced as Romney’s VP selection, the Democrats have barely missed an opportunity to assault the new GOP team — sometimes even physically. During his debut appearance at the Iowa State Fair last week, recall, some “protestors” shouted stop-the-war-on-whatever clichés and tried to rush the stage; back in Washington, meanwhile, President Obama helpfully inflamed the situation with a claim that Ryan had tried to prevent drought aid from reaching Iowa farmers.

A couple of days later, Ryan came under fire again at a Virginia town hall, this time for “lying” about the stimulus. Already a pro on the stump, Ryan just laughed it off and continued with his talk.

But let’s be clear — this is no laughing matter. As far as some of today’s hard-left Democrats are concerned, the very act of running against their chosen candidate is now cause for “protest,” and they’re willing to risk personal confrontations with the candidates.

It’s not the first time they’ve pulled this little stunt. Few remember now, but back in 2008 Sarah Palin’s electrifying speech in front of the Republican convention was almost knocked off stride when Code Pink “protestors” rushed the stage and managed to get within 30 feet of the Alaska governor before being dragged away.

But “protest” what? The American political system as it’s evolved over the course of more than two centuries? The notion of a peaceful and orderly transition of power? The very notion of two competing political parties, each with an equal claim to political legitimacy?

That’s why the Biden trip to Tampa, where he’ll hold a rally, is so worrisome. Passions are running higher along the political divide than at any time since 1968, when the Democratic convention in Chicago was wracked by leftist student protests and a “police riot.”

A misplaced word or incendiary phrase — Biden’s pandering crack, “They’re gonna put ya’ll back in chains,” to a largely black crowd in Danville, Va. — could set off trouble.

Is that what the Obama team wants? If not, why send a loose cannon like Biden to Tampa on the first day or two of the GOP convention? Especially when there already are credible reports of potential violence from the New Black Panthers, the Occupy Wall Street rabble and even some terrorist groups?

The pugnacious chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, is already promising payback should the Democrats cross the line. “Whatever they do to us, we can do 10 times over to them,” he said. “I’m a big believer in: If they punch us, we put on the brass knuckles and punch back.”

Make no mistake: The macho swagger started at the top. “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said at a fund-raiser during the 2008 election, echoing David Mamet’s famous formulation of the “Chicago Way” in “The Untouchables.”

But quoting America’s greatest playwright is one thing; putting the philosophy into potential practice is another.

Both sides need to back off, give their opponents a respectful hearing and let the voters make up their minds — peacefully — at the ballot box in November. That’s not the Chicago Way — but it’s the American Way.